Arriving hot on the heels of the impressive Sanyo PLV-Z700, Epson's EH-TW3000 is another low-cost 1080p projector.

It's not going to win any awards for style, but the off-white chassis should at least blend in nicely with the paint jobs in most lounges. A horizontal and vertical lens shift feature is fitted, allowing you to project at an angle without creating a distorted image.

Two buttons join the lens shift controls on the top (one for power, the other to change input source), while menu shortcuts are found on the right side of the chassis. Round the back sit two HDMI 1.3 inputs, along with component, S-Video, composite and VGA ports.

The EH-TW3000 uses Epson's own 3LCD technology and has a dynamic contrast ratio of 18,000:1. Brightness is also impressive, with the projector able to muster up 1,800 ANSI lumens. Epson has done a sterling job in keeping noise levels down, too: as long as there's some audio to accompany the projection, you'll barely notice it whirring away at just 22dB.

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Without any zooming, it's possible to achieve a 50-inch projection from a distance of just over 3m. Thanks to its 2.1x optical zoom, this can be boosted to 100-inch from the same distance, but as with all zoom functions this has an adverse affect on brightness.

In an effort to boost image quality the EH-TW3000 comes with what Epson calls an Auto Iris feature: this adjusts the light intensity depending on the image being projected. The idea is that shadows in dark scenes are handled better, while highlights are boosted in lighter scenes. In practice, however, we found it made little noticeable difference.

The EH-TW3000's Lounge mode makes daytime viewing without the curtains closed possible, as even in a brightly lit room it managed to project a clear and perfectly visible image. The downside to this Lounge mode is that deep blacks are lost and the fan also ramps up to a level that can be heard during quieter scenes.

Via a Sky HD box, we tested the EH-TW3000 with a variety of High Definition broadcasts and were impressed with its sharp, detailed projection. That said, when watching Beowulf using the preset Theatre mode it struggled with some of the more shadowy scenes; the Auto Iris feature made little difference when activated, while switching to Lounge mode created too harsh an image for movie watching.

However, the Lounge mode really comes into its own when watching sporting events. When we indulged in some HD Premiership football the EH-TW3000 excelled, creating a bright, vivid projection with excellent colour reproduction. We were similarly impressed when we tested it with a bit of gaming on an Xbox 360 Elite. Colours were rich and there was no visible ghosting.

If you're in the market for a 1080p projector, the Epson EH-TW3000 is definitely worth a close look. It's able to produce decent HD projections, even in well-lit environments, and is also incredibly quiet. However, Epson has some stiff competition, not least from the Sanyo PLV-Z700: although rated at 1,200 ANSI lumens (600 lumens fewer than this Epson model), it's around £150 cheaper.